Daystar Design ~ Anime, Manga, and Video Game Bishounen Avatars, Icons, Layouts, and Wallpapers ~ Version 13.0

Before we start make sure you have a bunch of grunge/swirl/ all around fun and useful brushes loaded. When I do grunge walls I usually “stamp” the brushes. Meaning I click once, move the mouse, and click again (rather then dragging the mouse around).Although I'm going to walk through how I made this Ouran High School Host Club wall, this will also give you an idea of how I do grunge walls in general. Sometimes I also combine stockphots or other scans into the backgrounds with the brush work for a different effect.
Requirements: A graphic design program that supports brushes (and some grunge brushes of course)

1.) First I start with the image (already extracted). You can use a solid color background but I’m going to use a gradient for this one. I picked colors from their clothes for the background colors. Then I basically just experiment with layers of brushwork (with different colors) until I find something that looks good. I usually try to never delete a whole layer of brushwork, instead I go over the top of it and let some of it show through. It’s all an experiment process really. I will attempt to break it down into steps though.

2.) I start with some light blue (from Mori) and use a cloud brush around most of the wall.

3.) Next I add in some almost black (from Honey’s coat) brushwork underneath the lighterblue part.

4.) Now I take some lighter green from Honey’s pants and add in the text on the right side to break up the green a bit. I also add in a few additional lighter blue parts.

5.) Now it’s time for some darker almost black parts again. These go on top of the light blue layer so it shows though.

6.) I added another two layers of light blue to balance out the almost black parts. Notice how the original gradient color and the almost black show through underneath this?

7.) This last step is subtle, but I feel it’s necessary. The blue-ish side of the wall is totally overpowering the green side, so in the middle of the blue-ish brush layers I add a few layers of darker green, to blend the two sides together more. Now it just needs some text and it will be done.

Please keep in mind that this is an example, and this just happens to be how I do it. Lots of my grunge walls end up with way more brush layers then this one did, and some of them end up with less. In my opinion there is no such thing as a “wrong way to make a grunge wall” but it does take a little bit of practice to get the hang of combing the brushes in the right way. The first few times I made grunge walls I found a grunge wall that I liked and used that as a guide to try to figure out what the heck I was doing. Don’t be afraid to try the same thing, the point is to not get discouraged and keep trying!

Below are some other examples of grunge walls I did using nothing but brushes, as I did in this example. As you can see there is a lot of room for variety!

-More Link Exchanges-

	1.) First I start with the image (already extracted). You can use a solid color background but I’m going to use a gradient for this one. I picked colors from their clothes for the background colors. Then I basically just experiment with layers of brushwork (with different colors) until I find something that looks good. I usually try to never delete a whole layer of brushwork, instead I go over the top of it and let some of it show through. It’s all an experiment process really. I will attempt to break it down into steps though.
	2.) I start with some light blue (from Mori) and use a cloud brush around most of the wall.
	3.) Next I add in some almost black (from Honey’s coat) brushwork underneath the lighterblue part.
	4.) Now I take some lighter green from Honey’s pants and add in the text on the right side to break up the green a bit. I also add in a few additional lighter blue parts.
	5.) Now it’s time for some darker almost black parts again. These go on top of the light blue layer so it shows though.
	6.) I added another two layers of light blue to balance out the almost black parts. Notice how the original gradient color and the almost black show through underneath this?
	7.) This last step is subtle, but I feel it’s necessary. The blue-ish side of the wall is totally overpowering the green side, so in the middle of the blue-ish brush layers I add a few layers of darker green, to blend the two sides together more. Now it just needs some text and it will be done.